Source tells Russian media it was 'not possible to save the plane' after crucial error

By WILL STEWART

10th January 2017,4:24 pm

Updated: 10th January 2017,4:33 pm

THE CO-PILOT caused the crash of a Russian plane killing all 92 on board when he pulled the lever to operate the wing flaps instead of the control to retract the wheels, it was reported in Moscow today.

But the Tu-154 aircraft operated by Vladimir Putin’s Defence Ministry was also “overloaded” en route to Syria and this compounded difficulties soon after takeoff from Sochi airport, sources close to the investigation said.

On Trial

ICE BREAKER

On the Tu-154, the two levers are close to each other and one expert claimed the co-pilot may have been blundered because he was “tired” after the first leg of the nighttime flight from a military airport near Moscow to Sochi.

Defence ministry experts have conducted in-depth analysis of the black box records on the 33-year-old Soviet-built aircraft and believe he retracted the flaps instead of the wheels, it was reported.

“The crew tried to turn the plane in order to get back to the ground but they did not have time to do so,” said the unnamed source.

“The situation was worse than it could have been because of the overloading,” said Life.ru

“The luggage section was completely full and the tail went down.

“It was not possible to save the plane, the speed and the altitude were too low.

“The tail was the first to hit the water and then the right wing touched the water at high speed and the plane crashed.”

Life.ru – which is known to have excellent sources in the Russian government and security services – claims its report is based on reliable inside information.

In the days after the crash investigators ruled out terrorism as a cause but pointed blame at the plane’s captain, Major Roman Volkov, 35, prompting an angry response from his relatives and colleagues.

If the Life.ru report is correct he is now absolved of blame, and worked with Rovensky to try to save the aircraft once they realised the error – but did not have time to right the plane’s trajectory.

Investigators are still scouring the data retrieved from the black box recorder

Experienced Tu-154 pilot Viktor Sazhenin said: “The Tupolev has levers for the flaps and wheels on the ceiling of the cockpit, right above the front window.

“It is possible to confuse them, especially when the second pilot who sits on the right and whose duty it is to operate wheels and flaps, is tired.”

The “mistake” caused the plane to plummet from its 450 metre altitude and crash three minutes into the flight.

Another pilot, a decorated Hero of Russia, Magomed Tolboev, said: “The left lever controls the flaps, the right one is for the wheels.

“The second pilot is in charge of those levers… it cannot be ruled out that the pilot just confused the levers or something else caught his attention, because we see that the plane was climbing with retracted flaps but with open wheels.”